Stratford man charged with unemployment fraud

Updated 1:44 pm, Thursday, August 13, 2015

STRATFORD — A local man took advantage of the state’s “call-in’’ system for unemployment benefits to collect nearly $32,000 he was not entitled to, officials say.

Brian Evanko, 36, accessed the Department of Labor’s Tele-benefits Line 59 times between June 12, 2012 and Aug. 18, 2013, and each time answered ‘no’ to the questions asking if he had worked full-time, part-time or was self-employed during the previous week, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in the case.

Investigators with the unemployment fraud unit of the Chief State’s Attorney’s office found that Evanko was employed by Colony Hardware during that time, working up to 51 hours per week.

He collected $31,811 that he was not entitled to, investigators said, and rebuffed attempts by Department of Labor staff to resolve the issue.

When investigators met with him in April, Evanko denied collecting unemployment benefits while he was working and claimed that he’d been advised by Chase Bank that there had been unusual activity on his account from overseas.

The suspect claimed that he was a victim of identity theft and that he’d closed the account but did not file a police report to document the theft. Investigators found that the bank account had not been closed, the warrant affidavit states.

Evanko, of Allen Street, has been charged with first-degree larceny by defrauding a public community and will be arraigned Sept. 15 at Superior Court in New Britain. He is represented by attorney Frank Riccio.

“I haven’t had the opportunity to review the warrant yet, so I can’t comment,’’ Riccio said.

His arrest Wednesday was the third in less than a year for Evanko. He is due Sept. 10 at Superior Court in Bridgeport, to enter a plea to a fifth-degree larceny charge related to an incident last Sept. 14 in Stratford.

Evanko also has a pre-trial hearing scheduled next month at Superior Court in Milford releated to his arrest last October by police in Orange on a first-degree larceny charge.